In typical Diggs fashion, he stood out Wednesday, too, while chopping neon green cleats into the field during precise routes that beat multiple Vikings cornerbacks ranging from Byron Murphy Jr. to Jeff Okudah.
He appeared healthy again while recovering from the knee injury that ended his only season with the Houston Texans. But he did not play in New England’s preseason opener last week. It remains unclear if he’ll play against his old team in Saturday’s preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
First-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel cited Diggs’ workload in practices, which was substantial in his return to Minnesota, when asked why the receiver didn’t play last week.
Vrabel is also already answering questions about Diggs’ contentment. He was asked Thursday to clarify a recent comment made by Patriots receivers coach Todd Downing, who said Diggs “can’t confuse results with the process” if there’s a day he doesn’t have many catches.
“I’m not sure which day Todd said that,” Vrabel said, “but the other day in the red zone, I thought that Stefon factored and looked good and keeps getting better, so I don’t think that that’s going to be always the case, right?”